$500: Upgrade or XBox?

[ShadowChaser]

Current gaming rig:

i3-7100

AsRock H110 mobo

EVGA 970 SC

500GB SSD

 

Should I spend the money on a better CPU/Mobo/GPU or should I spend it on an XBox, considering I already own games for it? I need my system to be SFF so SLI isn't an option

[Zando_]

What res do you play at? For $500, you could get a Ryzen 5 1600, a nice X370 mobo, and 16GB RAM. If you already have a bunch of Xbox games, and not many PC ones, I'd say to get the Xbone X. If you want to stay in the PCmasterrace, and have access to all the performance boosting features such as RGB and colour matched builds, then upgrade your PC. 

[Guest]

Come on, is that even a question? Upgrade the PC. What's your current SFF case, so we know what will fit?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

all the performance boosting features such as RGB and colour matched builds

Don't forget www.downloadmoreram.com for performance boosts

[Zando_]

Just now, LeinadTM said:

Don't forget www.downloadmoreram.com for performance boosts

Oh yeah, forgot about that! -facepalm-

 

Seriously though, it's really up to what res the OP plays at, and what games he plays. 

[typographie]

Well, how important are options to you, such as picking your own resolution, aiming for a higher framerate, using any input device you want?

 

It may be that on paper the Xbox One X is more powerful than your PC. But keep in mind some or most games are going to be locked at 3840x2160. Being able to play games at 1080p and a higher framerate is likely to make your PC feel like the more powerful system even if it theoretically isn't, depending on how badly you want 4K.

[ShadowChaser]

9 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

What res do you play at? For $500, you could get a Ryzen 5 1600, a nice X370 mobo, and 16GB RAM. If you already have a bunch of Xbox games, and not many PC ones, I'd say to get the Xbone X. If you want to stay in the PCmasterrace, and have access to all the performance boosting features such as RGB and colour matched builds, then upgrade your PC. 

 

8 minutes ago, LeinadTM said:

Come on, is that even a question? Upgrade the PC. What's your current SFF case, so we know what will fit?

Fractal Node 202

I play rocket league, Kerbal Space Program, Dota, osu!, and Microsoft Flight Sim. All at 1080p 85fps

8GB DDR4-2133 (one stick)

 

I do have a 6600K I could swap in... but can a cryorig C7 handle that with OC?

[Tiwaz]

you have a good graphics card get an i5 with a new mobo and ram

[typographie]

6 minutes ago, ShadowChaser said:

I do have a 6600K I could swap in... but can a cryorig C7 handle that with OC?

More to the point, you won't be able to overclock on an H110 motherboard anyway. It's still worth swapping it in, as the biggest difference between an i3 and an i5 is physical core count. The clock speeds are close enough not to matter much.

 

If you meant you may buy a Z170 or Z270 board, I don't know if that's worthwhile. You may be able to overclock a little with that cooler, but if you're going to buy a new board you should probably go all the way with a Ryzen 5 CPU instead as @Zando Bob suggested. The overclock alone probably isn't worth ~$130 or so.

[Guest]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7600 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($208.89 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB Mini Video Card  ($249.89 @ B&H) 
Total: $458.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-27 09:33 EDT-0400

[Tiwaz]

2 minutes ago, LeinadTM said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7600 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($208.89 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB Mini Video Card  ($249.89 @ B&H) 
Total: $458.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-27 09:33 EDT-0400

he already has a good gpu...

[paddy-stone]

I'd vote for save your money for now. With what you already have being good enough for most things I don't think it's worth the upgrade right now. You would most likely not notice any/much difference in gameplay.

And as for the xbox one x, don't think it'll be worth it for pc gamers to sidegrade to it personally, much as I hate to admit it... but might be worth it in 6-12 months after launch if they drop the price. IMO they can afford to drop some off the retail cost of the console as they make more than that back from game sales, let alone their high asking price for peripherals.

[Guest]

Just now, Tiwaz said:

he already has a good gpu...

Oh, I thought it said 670, not 970. My bad. Get the CPU, then get more ram or something.

[ShadowChaser]

4 minutes ago, Tiwaz said:

he already has a good gpu...

I also need the extra vram

 

4 minutes ago, LeinadTM said:

Oh, I thought it said 670, not 970. My bad. Get the CPU, then get more ram or something.

 

4 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

I'd vote for save your money for now. With what you already have being good enough for most things I don't think it's worth the upgrade right now. You would most likely not notice any/much difference in gameplay.

And as for the xbox one x, don't think it'll be worth it for pc gamers to sidegrade to it personally, much as I hate to admit it... but might be worth it in 6-12 months after launch if they drop the price. IMO they can afford to drop some off the retail cost of the console as they make more than that back from game sales, let alone their high asking price for peripherals.

I think I'll wait for prices to stabilize with DDR4 rising quickly and XBox just launching

[paddy-stone]

Just now, ShadowChaser said:

I also need the extra vram

 

 

I think I'll wait for prices to stabilize with DDR4 rising quickly and XBox just launching

Yes, I would for sure... I think you have a decent enough gaming rig for now. DDR4 prices are a little high at the moment, considering I bought 16GB 3000Mhz LPX only in OCT last year for around £85, and now that same RAM is approx £125, is almost a 50% rise.

I actually game on an xbox one s at the moment, as I have problems and can't PC game like I used to any more, except for strategy games. Anyway, even then I don't think it's worth the launch prices and will wait until prices drop to buy.. I bought the one s for around £230 with one AAA title, so not a bad price I think. I would maybe pay upto £300 for the new one, but any more than that and I might as well just buy a new GPU to go in one of my rigs and use a conroller there.

[DarkBlade2117]

22 minutes ago, Tiwaz said:

you have a good graphics card get an i5 with a new mobo and ram

he doesn't need mobo and ram lol

 

You have a 6600k? Yes a c7 will be fine, even at stock clocks it'll beat 7100

[typographie]

17 minutes ago, ShadowChaser said:

I also need the extra vram

Your GTX 970 has more VRAM than the card he suggested.

 

If you want to upgrade your GPU, that's great, but I'd personally wait a while. Cryptocurrency mining has pushed some GPUs intended for the $200-range (at any rate, the ones that would be worthwhile upgrades for you) into the $400-range. I think an i5-6600K and GTX 970 are a better gaming system than an Xbox One X as-is.

[Damascus]

500 = a gtx 1080 mini from zotac

 

Thtat + your i5 at stock = better in every way than the xbox

[Tiwaz]

4 hours ago, Damascus said:

500 = a gtx 1080 mini from zotac

 

Thtat + your i5 at stock = better in every way than the xbox

with an i5 i wouldnt get anything above gtx 1070 because it just ends up bottlenecking in cpu intensive games

[SteveGrabowski0]

7 hours ago, ShadowChaser said:

 

Fractal Node 202

I play rocket league, Kerbal Space Program, Dota, osu!, and Microsoft Flight Sim. All at 1080p 85fps

8GB DDR4-2133 (one stick)

 

I do have a 6600K I could swap in... but can a cryorig C7 handle that with OC?

For those games you don't need anything more than your i3-7100. You switch that out for an i5 or an i7 and you'd probably lose performance in those games considering your 7100 runs at 3.9 GHz. I'm not sure why you would want an XBox One over playing AAA games on PC though unless Red Dead Redemption 2 and Final Fantasy XV are priorities, since most XBone games can be run on Windows 10.

[Damascus]

2 hours ago, Tiwaz said:

with an i5 i wouldnt get anything above gtx 1070 because it just ends up bottlenecking in cpu intensive games

Totally agree no one should buy an i5 but if OP has a really good gpu they can buy an i7 8700 later when they have the moolah (likely to run 4.2-4.4ghz or so with 6c/12t and fits right into that mobo)

[ShadowChaser]

33 minutes ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

For those games you don't need anything more than your i3-7100. You switch that out for an i5 or an i7 and you'd probably lose performance in those games considering your 7100 runs at 3.9 GHz. I'm not sure why you would want an XBox One over playing AAA games on PC though unless Red Dead Redemption 2 and Final Fantasy XV are priorities, since most XBone games can be run on Windows 10.

I think my 6600K boosts to 3.9 anyways. Also, Xbox has integrated wifi and Bluetooth and controller support.